The present study was undertaken with a vision to study the status of commercially important fruit; Apricot and Apple in Ladakh region of J&K state, India. The study is based on the secondary data. The main source of data collection includes; Economic survey, statistical digest, government official records, books, magazines, articles and journals. The data has been analyzed, arranged and interpreted through tabulation and simple percentage method. It was observed that with the increasing demand for these fruits, the area under cultivation in the region has increased, with the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 1.49% and 5.1% for apricot and apple respectively during the decade (2008 – 2017). But the production remained almost static in case of apple, whereas, it decreased with a compounded rate of 2.77% in apricot. The productivity, which determines the economic feasibility of the crop as profitable enterprise, declined in both crops with a CAGR of -4.91% in apricot and -2.9% in apple, this may be attributed mostly to insect pest infestations, especially Codling moth in apple, and aphid and Brown tail moth in apricot. Low density planting systems with traditional varieties, and poor management of orchards has added to the woes. Thus from the study, it can be interpreted that the enterprise need to be restored by switching to the new innovative technologies adapted worldwide like High density planting. This in addition to the high yields may also prove beneficial in losses due to pest damage by reducing the overwintering sites (bark crevices).

Calcium is a very poorly translocated nutrient in the flesh of apple fruits with the advancement of growth. Within the fruit, movement is further restricted towards distal portion relative to proximal. Even numerous foliar applications of calcium do not always achieve the desired effect. Thus, the objective of this study was to enhance the calcium allocation in distal parts of apple fruit in response to whole plant application of abscisic acid (ABA). Five-year-old apple plant of Super Chief Sandidge on M9 were treated with ABA (Abscisic acid) @ 400ppm, calcium chloride @ 0.4% and water (Control) at four stages (30, 65, 100 and 135 days after full bloom (DAFB), and then analyzed for xylem functionality and calcium allocation in leaf and various fruit tissues at 10 days after each treatment i.e., S1-40; S2-75; S3-110 and S4-145 DAFB. The results obtained showed that xylem functionality started impairing just after S2, consequently the calcium allocation was also reduced in middle and calyx portions of fruit after that stage. However, xylem functionality was significantly retained (up to 30%) in ABA-treated fruits at S4 stage, which in other treatments was found to be nil at the calyx end of the fruit. This retention of xylem tissue functionality enhanced allocation of calcium from roots in middle and calyx end of the apple fruit. Leaf calcium was reduced with ABA applications. With the enhancement of calcium in the fruits, increases in soluble solids content (SSC) and titratable acidity were observed at maturity.

No abstract